Star Trek: Picard has finally brought us off planet Earth. First, the episode opens with another look into the past during the Romulan evacuation. It finishes off with a surprise character reveal. With the pace we are setting now, it won’t be long before the crew arrives at the Borg cube.
Plot
We find ourselves fourteen years in the past. Picard has landed on Vasht wearing his best Jurassic Park exploration outfit. Picard is again meddling in affairs he shouldn’t be. On this planet lives the Qowat Milat, a group of nun-like warrior women who help those deemed worthy. A young boy named Elnor has been left in their care. Picard is supposed to find a better place for him to live. Something that he never gets to accomplish due to the attack by synthetics.
We then return to the current time in the story, the newly formed crew of the La Sirena is traveling to Freecloud, Actually, they thought they were traveling there. Jeann-Luc has need to go back to the planet Vasht, the planet where he left that boy years ago. After some bickering between the crew, his reasons are finally revealed. This very well could be his last time ever traveling in this area, due to the fact this could be his final mission before being killed.
On the Borg Cube, we find the twin Soji looking to discover more information on the Romulan ship that was assimilated and what the “Destroyer” is. On the other side, we see Narek dragging his feet when it comes to Soji, his methods on discovering where the other synthetics are not working as fast as Narek’s sister wants. Rizzo gave him an ultimatum, he has one more week to use his method. This is the one part of the show that I really have felt is moving too slowly. I’m ready for the Borg and other synthetics to show up now. That’s just me being spoiled from all the Star Trek content available online.
Towards the end, we see the crew under fire from an older Romulan warbird and the defenses of the planet Vasht below. This is were Picard brings two new crew members on board. One is on purpose, the older Elnor who is now a skilled fighter. The other member is Star Trek: Voyagers own Seven of Nine. The episode had a better pace, it finally gave the fans something to enjoy off-planet including a new hologram that helped man the weapon station on the ship.
Performance
Picard’s crew is starting to fill out. Every actor is doing an amazing job. The one thing that Jason and I were worried about is having Next Generation cast members thrown in episodes when they didn’t need to be. So far this really hasn’t happened, adding the original actor who played Hugh was a fantastic touch. The only problem I really have with this show is the other half of the story. The synthetic on a Borg cube, it feels like more should be happening with that.
With the addition of these new crew members its starting to feel like an actual Star Trek show. I’m just waiting to see what happens on that Borg cube.
Cinematography
Star Trek is still one of the best-looking shows created. Picard is no exception to that. The La Sirena is pristine and so cool looking, it really makes me wish we had even more Star Trek shows. The rest of the show is set on Vasht, the set looks like an old western town that was on the paramount lot, I swear I’ve been to it when I was a kid. With all the technology they but into these shows some of the locations can just look childish in comparison to the rest of the show.
The Borg cube continues to be a big floating box that now has floors you can slide on. That whole thing just didn’t feel right, it felt out of place. I really doubt this will be the last time we have a scene in the show that just doesn’t fit. The next episode looks a little weird to me, I’m happy Jason will be taking on that one.
Verdict
The fourth episode somewhat fleshes out the rest of the crew. We see more of the chaos that was caused by Picard, even though he was doing what needed to be done. The Federation made it easy for him to take the blame. The Romulan story is starting to get a little stale, hopefully, the next few episodes won’t be just filler.
